Lee Chong Wei and JJ Lin on the way to being best buds

Singapore — Football may command big bucks on TV but in this region, badminton often rules hearts and hands.

So it shouldn’t be a surprise that Singaporean singer songwriter actor and record producer JJ Lin (real name Wayne Lim Junjie) has been playing badminton while home in Singapore. His playing partner is his dad. When JJ posted to Instagram several shots of father and son  playing badminton on Oct 10,  Malaysia’s badminton star Lee Chong Wei made a comment  that launched a new celeb riendship.

JJ observed on Instagram that it’s been his childhood tradition to play  badminton with his father on Friday. Many people responded to his  post, including singer Hong Junyang and actor Shaun Chen, as reported by Hype.my.

Chen, seeing Hong’s sad emoji in the comments responded with a cheeky, “Bro, look for (JJ) next time. (We’ll) play with (his dad). That’s when Lee stepped into the conversation with a sly: “You (defeat) me first before fighting (JJ).”

Amid the many responses, JJ threw out an olive branch. “You teach me to play and I teach you to sing?” he offered jokingly. The two have since been in contact apparently, but Lee did not respond publicly in the comments.

That’s Dato Lee, if you’re Malaysian, OK?  As a singles player, the former badminton supremo topped the world rankings for 349 weeks in all. That includes an incredible 199-week stretch  that lasted from Aug 21, 2008, to June 14,  2912.

On Oct 13, JJ revealed  on  Instagram story that he had received a surprise package. When he opened it, JJ found an autographed badminton bag containing one of the badminton star’s personalised rackets.

Delighted with the unexpected gift, JJ publicly thanked Lee for his generosity. “One step closer to becoming a pro! Lol…” he wrote. Fans were treated to the sight of JJ taking a few experimental swings with his new weapon.

It definitely looks like  Christmas has come early.  “I immediately feel better,” JJ said as he posed coolly for the camera.

Now that the two stars are friends, can we expect to see them playing badminton together? Or perhaps JJ can get the star shuttler to duet with him on his next record. /TISG